“There’s substance underneath all the cocaine and thongs,” says Welcome to Chippendales creator Robert Siegel. The writer/producer behind Pam & Tommy, Hulu’s 2021 dramatisation of Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee’s sex tape scandal, has turned his attention to the wild story behind the establishment of America’s first male strip club. The eight-episode drama – out now on Hulu in the US and Disney+ in the UK – follows Kumail Nanjiani as Somen “Steve” Banerjee, the Indian entrepreneur who founded Chippendales, as he grasps for the American dream. Banerjee’s hubris, however, ultimately led to destruction, murder, and suicide.
The story began in 1975 with Bombay-born Banerjee purchasing a failing discotheque in West Hollywood, which he intended to turn into the city’s first backgammon club. He named the venue “Destiny II” – there was no Destiny I but, as Nanjiani’s Banerjee explains in the series, “The II implies it’s a sequel, projecting an air of success.” The ambitious name serves as a metaphor for Banerjee’s fake-it-till-you-make-it mentality.
